“When the yellow croaker arrives, ten thousand taels of gold follow.” Wild large yellow croakers are traditional banquet staples and auspicious dishes in Zhejiang and Shanghai. Along the Chinese coastline, perhaps no fish has experienced a more turbulent fate than the large yellow croaker. In October this year, I witnessed…
Foodthink Says On Sunday, 3 December at 10:30, our editorial team, currently in Guangzhou for the Harvest Festival, will be hosting a discussion on pre-prepared meals and indigenous ingredients. One of our guests, Doudou, is a kitchen expert renowned for her home-made pre-prepared meals. She shared her journey and a…
Have you ever tried sourdough? Commercial sourdough often uses isolated, high-purity yeast, which speeds up production and ensures more consistent quality. However, these advantages come at the cost of the more distinctive flavours, textures, and mouthfeel provided by traditional mixed microbial cultures. In reality, yeast is omnipresent in our environment.…
Today, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened in Dubai. While humanity continues to bicker over the distribution of responsibility for saving the planet—who should pay how much, and who must step outside their comfort zone to alter existing economic development…
Power generated above, crops grown below—one piece of land yielding two streams of income. “Agrivoltaics” claims to deliver multiple benefits, including clean electricity, efficient land use, agricultural modernisation, and rural development; it is often viewed as a win-win technological innovation to simultaneously address food, energy, and climate issues. According to…
In media reports over the last few years, it has been common for street vendors to be fined for selling produce such as chives and celery with pesticide residues exceeding legal limits, with penalties ranging from 5,000 to tens of thousands of yuan. The performance of high-end supermarkets and premium…
This episode of “Food Talk” is a crossover with our fellow creators “Da Xiao Dian Bo”, marking our first time collaborating. We join Gusi, the host of “Da Xiao Dian Bo”, and regular guest Nanshan to explore the creative and delicious world of fermented foods. As the founder of the…
I. The Beginning In 2018, in a scattered village in Hong Kong’s New Territories that was facing imminent demolition, I baked my first sourdough loaf using a jar of fermented starter I’d just received from a friend. Looking back, it hadn’t really risen properly; it could hardly be called bread.…
Torrential rain, flooding, typhoons, droughts… under the threat of climate change, farmers are always the first to suffer. Yet, it is often overlooked that they are also the most proactive in taking measures to mitigate these losses. Last year, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Farmer Seed…
Those who have studied permaculture will likely be familiar with the name Sepp Holzer. As a pioneer of permaculture in practice, Holzer is almost a household name in Austria, and his book, *Permaculture*, has served as an introductory guide for enthusiasts across the globe. This June, I travelled deep into…
